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October 18, 2007

ALCS 5: Red Sox 7, Spiders 1

Red Sox - 101 000 230 - 7 12 1Spiders - 100 000 000 - 1 6 1

Beckett: 8-5-1-1-11, 109

Beckett was absolutely amazing tonight -- everything we could have hoped for -- near Pedro-esque in his ability to toy with the Cleveland hitters! Along with a fastball sitting at 95-97 all night long, he also used a devastating 12-to-6 curve that made more than one Spider look like a fool. In the post-season, he now has a BB/K ratio if 1/26.

A Yook dong gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead in the first, but Cleveland tied the game in the home half. Sizemore doubled, moved to third on Cabrera's single and scored on Hafner's GIDP. After that, only one other Cleveland batter touched second base -- and that was in the ninth inning against Jonathan Papelbon.

Manny was robbed of a two-run dong to right-center in the third, but he did get an RBI out of it -- Boston led 2-1. They held on and broke it open with two in the seventh -- Pedroia double, Youilis triple, Ortiz sac fly -- and three in the eighth -- three walks, an error, a bunt single and another sac fly.

I feel like we're going to win and take it back to Boston and play another day. When you see something's that never been done before, you can believe in anything.

Jason Varitek:

There's a faith. It's like being able to come back late in a game. You have people that have done it, the team has done it, and done it on different occasions. You should have confidence that it can be done.

This team is so loose. That's baseball. We happened to lose three in a row, but we could just as well win three in a row, too. ... Even though we're down, I still think we're set up pretty good.

Yook also echoed Manny Ramirez's thoughts:

You have to have the same mind-set every day in big games. You can't change things. You can try to make adjustments pitch to pitch, but you can't change your approach ... You have to stay calm and collected and you have to have fun. You have to have that energy flowing and be excited to go up there.

That was quite eery, clicking on that link and seeing your post from almost EXACTLY three years ago. Wish I had known about your blog back then, but I didn't even know what a blog was in 2004.

Anyway, a good reminder that you have to just focus on the next game, as Terry always says. I am ready, for whatever comes our way. And damn, I wish Manny hadn't said that about Who Cares? Sometimes Manny being Manny is really not so great.

Without looking at those posts from SoSH, I can tell you my own view, as I have already thought about it. This was a great, great season. The Sox were in first from the start, they played great almost every game, it was always fun, always exciting. Whatever happens tonight, I will always look back on this season as the most relaxing and enjoyable ever. Not always as exciting as some, but sometimes you have to trade excitement for a little less stress.

If it ends with the ALCS, I will still feel that way. As I posted yesterday, the post-season is really a crapshoot. So many good teams, so few games---luck and timing determine the end result, not really skill or heart. This team already demonstrated their skill and their heart over 162 games, and that was more a test of their greatness than these series.

How about an old flame of Beckett throwing the first pitch for the Spiders . Anything more needed for Beckett to pitch better than he has been pitching ?. Let me see if the link shows up....first time you know. link

It works. Earlier Wilbur wrote: "It astounds me every year how MLB goes along with the idea that, sure, an 8:30 p.m. game is a great way to get the youth of America interested in baseball ..."

Newsflash for Wilbur: Not every kid lives in the Eastern time zone. In fact, millions and millions do not. Start the games much earlier and most Red Sox fans on the west coast would still be at work (or school?).

(note: I started typing a response to this when I thought - fuck that! I'm not wasting my time on it. I'll comment on it if and only if it somehow manages to end in the ALCS. But, it probably won't. So to hell with the question!)

The table about teams down 3-1 coming back to win neglects to point out that so far in history, more teams have come back than you'd expect.

If the teams are matched evenly, then each game is essentially a coin flip, so you'd expect 1 out of 8 teams down 3-1 to come back and win. That'd be 8 out of 65 - but 10 have actually done it. And actually, you'd probably expect the odds to be longer than 1 in 8, since the team that goes down 3-1 is on average probably not as good as the team that's winning.

Probably just statistical noise, but food for thought nonetheless. Home field advantage might be a factor.

...

Here's how I'm looking at tonight's game: I think the Red Sox are going to take C. C. apart, just like they did in Game 1. And Beckett's going to be post-season Beckett. And after the game is over, this'll be the situation: 3-2 Indians, heading back to Fenway, with Schilling up next. Sure, playing cards and waiting for the Rockies would be better, but this is way more interesting.

Who's this D.J. Michael? Is that a new nickname I don't know about. DJ Michael--rocks the bells, rocks the bases.

Anyhow...I feel like I've been away for ages. Working during too many games, busted laptop, crazy schedule. Good to see you all are here. I've carved out tonight in my schedule--getting that anxious pre-gameness.

This is the 6th time that the Red Sox have dropped 3 of the 1st 4 games in a best-of-7 or best-of-9 postseason series. They have come back to win 3 of those previous 5 series.

On the 5 previous occasions, Boston is 4-1 in Game 5, the lone defeat coming in the 1999 LCS vs. the Yankees.

The Red Sox are the only the team in history to come back from a 3-1 deficit and win a best-of-7 ALCS more than once, accomplishing that feat in 1986 against the Angels and 2004 versus the Yankees (they had trailed that series 3-0).

Boston has an all-time record of 21-11 in games in which it could have been eliminated from a postseason series.

*********

All of which = zero for tonight's game -- except the fact that it is well within the realm of possibility for the Sox to win the pennant.

Joe Torre turned down the New York Yankees' offer to return as manager on Thursday.

The Yankees offered Torre a one-year deal with a base salary of $5 million and incentives that would have increased his salary to $8 million based on postseason performance. Under that offer, if Torre reached the World Series in 2008, an option for 2009 would have vested.

"Brian Cashman said, with the backing of ownership, that the Yankees would not pursue Alex Rodriguez as a free agent if he opts out of his contract. Cashman has been saying that for eight months. But now it's with the support of the Steinbrenner family."

Joe Torre is now in Tampa, apparently negotiating a new deal to remain as the manager. Torre arrived in Florida today with Brian Cashman and Lonn Trost, and the three of them have now headed to the ballpark to meet with the Steinbrenners.

It certainly looks like Torre will be back in the fold, possibly as soon as today. The end is in sight. Then all we'll have to watch will be A-Rod, Mariano and Jorge.

UPDATE: The Yankees just announced in a conference call that Torre has, in fact, turned down a $5 million offer plus $3 million in incentives for 2008, with an option for '09. More to come later on this obviously.

OK, I am ready. Stomach is jumping, nerves all jangled, but I am psyched. Lots of Sox talk at work today, and it actually is amazing how upbeat people are, given the do or die position we're in. Guess all that negative crap from before 2004 has really been flushed away (at least here in Springfield).

Hey, Laura, kudos on being mentioned on the blog list. I went to read your post, and it made me want to go check out Lessing's work. For some reason she's an author I have just missed. Not that I hadn't heard of her---I just somehow have never read any of her books.

Laura, you probably have noticed that I have an uncanny ability to filter out things on TV that I don't care about---like Transformer ads, names of various sportscasters, etc. Usually that's a good thing, though sometimes I really miss things I didn't want to miss. I find that watching TV with a laptop means that I can always find something else to read/watch when I am bored or annoyed by the babbling on TV.

So yeah, I missed the bobbleheads, generally had no idea what all the nonsense was about president of RSN, etc.

I watch an embarrassing amount of silly TV, so a good filter is essential to get through commercials, promos, etc. I am more a visual person, so sometimes the talking is just noise to me. It may be also why I don't get as annoyed with the sportcasters who say dumb things (though I still think Jon Miller is biased against the Sox).

I have trouble blocking out any kind of noise. I have always found I am better at hearing and responding rather than sorting visual information and puzzles (in "intelligence tests" and such). There's definitely different types as far as that's concerned.

I am torn about watching the game at home or in the bar. They may not have the sound on in the bar, and the conversation of others (hard to block out!) can be either fun or annoying. But watching at home alone -- which I did in 2003/4 -- is not that fun. And we don't get FOX that well (we defend ourselves against the onslaught of TV by not having cable TV...which leads to watching silly TV when the DVDs don't arrive on time.)

Zen, I know what you mean about watching alone or with a crowd. We are supposed to watch the Saturday night game (because there WILL be a Saturday game) with friends. Part of me thinks that that would be fun, but the other part of me would rather be home, posting on the game thread, and focusing on the game without having to be "social."

Laura, you would probably like GreenCine (greencine.com), which is what we use. Like Netflix but smaller, greener, and cooler. It is not perfect either but I have used them for a long time and their site is fun to look around as well.

After doing some emotional insulation against negative outcomes, I am now...excited. I must head home. Perhaps I'll start at home then make my way down to the bar.

I also dream of the library in my house. We now have a room that is basically all books since the kids have moved on, but it isn't my fantasy of a room with walls of books on dark oak shelves. We have no more room for books, and I am always giving books away to make room for new ones. Even so, books sit on piles on the floor.

I am nervous also. Trying to read the paper in between posting, and I am finding it hard to focus on the paper. Stomach is definitely jumpy as hell.

I would rather stay home, but Harvey rather be out (understandably), and I had no good excuse to say no without offending the friends. So...we will go. Since we won't clinch til Game 7 on Sunday, it will be okay.

trot: "if i get into this base, i hope i don't make a bone-headed base running play or make some error in the gap or hand the ball to a fan with 2 outs and a sock on third ... these fans and the media would hate me ... wait, if i put some more grime on my wahoo cap, i won't get criticized for it. cool."

I am sure you're right about Trot, but maybe he also has some continuing nostalgia/affection for those who played with in Boston. I know, I am sappy and sentimental and should NEVER manage a baseball team.

Well, haven't been here for half a week, and maybe won't be here for the whole game. Goddamn work. And to top it all off, I'm watching on GDGD. But, as long as the Sox win behind Beckett, I'm fine with everything.

Trying to remember if I was nervous before Game 4 in 04? I don't think so -- more of a "would ya win one fucking game" attitude?

My attitude also at that time. In fact I was so disgusted when Fruitbat came into the game that I turned off the TV went out on the deck screamed into the night. Scared the crap out of b-fly and BH. Then, being the Masochist that I am, I turned it back on just in time to see ball four and the rest as they say is history.

Don't worry about it, guys. 2 outs, you're more likely to be aggressive, sending the runner home. Not with 1 or 2 out. No worries. I think he should have stopped at third, but a dong, a double, and a single is a good way to start things.